Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai: goondagiri at its finest.

Ever since watching Milan Luthria's brilliant The Dirty Picture, I've been meaning to check out his previous hit, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. I'm happy to report than when I finally did, I wasn't disappointed in the least. While Luthria may have began his career with the fairly forgettable Kachche Dhaage (starring Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan in 1999), and Chori Chori, which I could barely sit through (despite severe cuteness from Rani Mukherjee) he's certainly progressed into one of the most solid film makers in India today.

OUATIM tells the story of Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgan), an orphan who rises through the ranks of Mumbai's underworld into the benevolent don of the city around the 1970's. He helps out the common man when the state cannot do enough, and through these actions, his reputation is good among just about everybody but the police. As he rules Mumbai, another child grows up: Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi) is trouble from the beginning, and does not improve as he matures.

There's nothing mind-blowing about this tale of two gangsters and their power struggle, but so much can be said for the film getting everything right. Both Ajay and Emraan are fantastic in the leads, and their co-stars are also wonderful to watch. Prachi Desai as Mumtaz, Shoiab's girlfriend, is tragic in her attempts to ground the man who only seems to go from bad to worse, hinging on sociopath-like in his quest for more power. Kangna Raut plays Rehana, an actress who catches the eye of Sultan, with confident ease. It's certainly not the most challenging role for Kangna, who I know can do more, but it's fun to watch her in this, and her chemistry with Ajay just won me over. 

The sole questionable aspect of the film is perhaps the portrayal of Sultan as a doer of good and a man who provides the city with a certain balance. The streets are safer, people's problems get sorted through him, the film implies, but he's still a smuggler and a gangster. This is not the only film where criminals seem the most moral of characters, despite their actions, and in that it largely reminded me of Nayagan, the Mani Ratnam classic that also tells the tale of an underworld don in Mumbai. The contrast between Sultan and Shoiab certainly makes you root more for the former.

Then there's the police man after Sultan - ACP Agnel Wilson, played by Randeep Hooda, whose name I was familiar with but had actually never seen on-screen prior to this movie. It's safe to say I was a goner pretty much instantly. He gives the role a certain intensity that just got me so hooked I paused the film and began looking up his filmography and mentally ticking off films I wanted to see him in. Of course, the tallness and the good looks didn't hurt, either, but I know my own tastes, and actors are rarely attractive to me unless I believe they've got some kind of talent, too. (I'll save the gushing to a post about him once I've seen more of him, for now I'll just say I'm very intrigued.)

The soundtrack is not particularly memorable (though there is a song that samples Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, one of my favourite oldies tracks ever) but fun enough. Much like TDP, Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai simply excels as a film - there isn't much I'd change or alter, and while it may not have made my top favourites like TDP did, it's certainly a film I'd recommend all around. And for once, I can see how the ending, while not open, lends itself to a sequel, which is coming out later this year, I believe. I heartily anticipate it.

Spare a thought for Ishq.

Ah, Ishq. You are the most entertaining bad film ever, or a hot mess that's a tragic wasted opportunity considering the talented, likable cast - depending on who you ask. You're the worst of Anu Malik soundtracks, or the best example of an Anu Malik soundtrack - again, depending on the listener.

I'm in the camp of Ishq lovers, and unapologetically so. But as with any bad movie, to actually value it in that perverse The Room type of cult phenomenon type of way is just not on (I mean that in the sense that I've had people praise The Room to me as a pinnacle of film-making, like there's some kind of wild genius hidden in its badness). This is a bad film, superb in its badness, but not necessarily to be admired for that quality. A bad film is a bad film is a bad film. Some bad films just happen to be entertaining.

All the characters and events in Ishq are hysterical and over-the-top. The comedy of the first half, what with the ape driving the car and Juhi spreading tooth paste all over Aamir's face in a fit of anger, is just so out there you wonder how anybody thought it was a good idea. The songs are a constant joy; the first one, "Humko tumse pyaar hai" fits neatly into the weird category of pervy love songs that have picturisations like out of a horror film. "Ishq hua" is every 90's Bollywood love song cliché neatly squeezed into one package, with the kind of lyrics that didn't seem to take that much thought (ishq hua / kaise hua? / accha hua! / jaise hua! - congratulations, that's four rhymes worth of "hua"). "Neend churayi mera", the song picturized above, is a ripped off disco tune with some pretty cheesy dance moves, and of course, a villain trying to shoot our foursome of heroes.

And of course, there are just no words for "Mr Lova Lova" apart from this one: why?

Then there's the epic second half, where angst reaches heightened proportions, there's attempted suicide and some other really deeply messed up stuff. Again: hot mess of story-telling. And yet weirdly enjoyable.
I should probably do a proper write-up of Ishq, with screencaps and all. But for now, spare a thought for Ishq - if for nothing else, than for the fact that grave mistakes ought not be forgotten..

Yeh Rajneeti hai - dirty, dirty politics.

I finally got around to watching Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, quite an epic tale of one family's unhealthy relations and how the politics ruin them, twist them, and ally them with each other as well as against each other. I loved it, not only because it was a well-made story juggling an impressive amount of characters, all with their own shades of grey and questionable decisions, but also because it revealed quite painfully the kind of things you might end up doing for the desire of power - the dark side of politics you never see politicians talk about, even for all that talking they get to do.
I have to again confess I don't know an awful lot about Indian politics, but I was still surprised at the blatant lack of worry that the politicians seemed to have regarding the opinion of the people they were elected to represent. Perhaps this goes for almost any democracy - the power is so high up the people cannot reach it, even though this is precisely what a democratic system tries to prevent from happening. Instead, the politicians do not live in fear of the people - but of each other. And what a messy game that can be. This film lays bare all the backstabbing, scheming and just plain reaches to any power that can be had in a way that's brutal.
And it is so very interesting to watch.

SPOILERS FROM HEREON OUT

This being a film about politicians, it's easy to start listing those who I hated while watching. Ranbir's Samar is absolutely despicable and to top it all off, he tries to blame the circumstances for his behaviour. Certainly the circumstances contributed, but his blind devotion to following the political game to its absolute sickest conclusion, and how coldly he played this game, was indicative of not just the circumstances, but the man who chose to act as he did, in those circumstances. At first I thought the way he played Indu (Katrina) was cruel, but then the rap sheet began to fill up with more terrible offenses, one after another.

Then there is his brother Prithvi, played by the ever-capable Arjun Rampal (sending us all into conflicted emotions, so charming, yet so hopelessly evil in this!), whose first scene features him, what's that, oh yes, taking sexual advantage of a girl who wants to get into politics. Now, while she seems willing initially, the whole scene has a very uncomfortable vibe, to the point that when it's later framed as rape, I found it hard to disagree. What a charmer. He also goes to great lengths to secure power, and has a fuse about the length of a baby's finger.

Manoj Bajpai plays an absolute crook in the other brother Veerendra, naturally, and Ajay Devgn is only a teaspoon more honest than the rest of them, but in comparison appears saint-like. Which of course means he gets gunned down on a dirty street.

A thing that struck me about the film, besides how awful the characters were (and let me re-iterate that this didn't take away from my enjoyment of the film - the story absolutely captivated me), was how vague the actual politics were. What was the difference between the two parties, besides the faces of their leaders? What were their policies, their promises, their stances on major political issues? None of these were discussed, debated, even stated. Nope. Just waltz into town in local attire, greet the common folk respectfully and the poor will worship you as god? Or was this just unwillingness of the film maker to actually draw connections to any real issues that might upset viewers or even worse, the censors?

I kept waiting for Naseeruddin Shah's leftist character to make a comeback but alas, he never did. Probably better for it, actually - his character got a peaceful death, at the very least.

Biggest gripe? How out of place was that item number? Oh dear.

Other than that? Recommend, recommend, recommend.

Mini-reviews, part 6.

[Previous mini-reviews here.]

Sorry, I lack blogspiration nowadays. Better than nothing, isn't it?

51. Yuva (2004) - Probably the second Mani Ratnam film I ever watched and while it definitely has its good points (Abhishek, Rani-Abhishek, music), it felt like a disappointment by the time I was done. I assumed that once the storylines of the three heroes (Abhi, Ajay Devgan & Vivek Oberoi) would come together, the movie would more or less end. Well, it didn't. It goes on exceedingly long and it's just kind of, hmm, dull?

52. Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! (1994) - Damn, ain't sugar great? I remember watching this and just thinking what a perfect piece of fluff it was. The Rajshri megahit is just about two Indian families coming together, Salman and Madhuri's characters teasing each other, falling in love to the sounds of a million songs and it's all cushioned edges and niceties. They do mix in a little drama but it's nothing like the melodrama in Maine Pyaar Kiya (review here) or even the godawful follow up, Hum Saath-Saath Hain. HAHK is a fluffy classic. I really should rewatch. I yearned for more drama on my first (and only) watch but nowadays I think I might be more fine with no sharp edges and candyfluff.


53. Ishq (1997) - If you're sane, you hate Ishq. If you're lucky, you love Ishq. I love Ishq. Yeah, it's a wasted opportunity for a great 90's multistarrer (Aamir, Juhi, Kajol, Ajay), it's way too over-the-top, but it's so-bad-it's-good, and it's mind-boggling and every now and then I gotta youtube or pop in the DVD for the songs. It doesn't get more ballistic than this. Seriously.

54. Lamhe (1991) - This is one of those films where everything seems fine but where I can't get over the premise, where Anil Kapoor loves both Pallavi (Sridevi) and Pallavi's daughter (also Sridevi), after Pallavi died during delivery. Based on what I watched, it seemed like quite an okay film but once I realized what was coming I had to turn it off. I still feel kind of guilty about it, because it seems like a popular movie but eh there you go.


55. Nandha (2001) - I like Nandha but it is sadly my least favourite Bala film. For the purposes of keeping this short, here's my original review of it.

56. Doli Saja Ke Rakhna (1998) - Ohhhh boy. I talked about it here previously (in 2008!) and since I haven't rewatched it, my thoughts haven't changed. It's an okay Akshaye Khanna movie - which is saying something, but knowing the career of poor Akshoo, it's still not saying a lot. And Jothika is a shadow of the spunk she shows in her Tamil films. Oh and it's directed by Priyadarshan. Fantastic soundtrack, though, do youtube the songs!


57. Inkaar (1977) - Vinod playing policewallah detective proper in a 70's thriller I will discuss more during Khanna Week so ..til then!

58. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) - Blaaaahhhhhhh. Blaahhhhhhhh. Blahhhhhh. This whole movie is like my relationship with Karan Johar in a nutshell. He spends one half of the movie building something I might enjoy and the second half tearing it down in the most ridiculously melodramatic manner possible. The less I can talk about this movie the better so --

59. Main Hoon Na (2004) - God I'm going to come off as such a party-pooper but okay, please sit down, take a deep breath, you calm? Okay. I'm not a fan of Farah Khan. I really am not. I like her movies but I don't get the excitement others have for them. I think the parodying aspect is fun, but it doesn't make me develop any sort of emotional attachment to the characters, and when she rams up the emotional moments, it just feels so fake. So that's the kind of attitude I have towards both MHN and OSO. Fun watch, maybe rewatch for some scenes.. (Also, I have an irrational annoyance towards the fact she's a female director who does absolutely nothing with her female characters, they're mostly there to look gorgeous and glam.)


60. Swades: We, the People (2004) - Mini-review triple whammy for Shahrukh! Swades is quite a good picture. It suffers from the usual Ashutosh Gowariker trait of being a little too overly long and I think some people found Shahrukh's NRI character a little too sermonizing. But on my first watch, I really enjoyed. It has very little repeat value, though, I've discovered. Still, fab soundtrack - one of the first ones I ever got into.

The tale of three movies.

I've done a post before where I talked about two films both named Meera, which had in terms of story, execution or even language very little to do with each other.

Similarly I'll now discuss two films called Chori Chori - the 2003 one and the 1956 one.

The 2003 Chori Chori was recommended to me a couple of times by people who knew I liked Rani Mukherji a lot, and I think every Rani fan loves her lively, "bubbly" roles, if not best then at the very least a lot. I wasn't very different in that respect, considering Bunty aur Babli is my favourite film with her in it next to Hum Tum. I had my doubts about enjoying the film, considering I'm no huge Ajay fan (don't hate the guy, just don't like him a ton, either), but enough people whose tastes I trust liked it and so I bought the film.

I was open to it, I really was, but it just never won me over and I kept watching it in 15 minute chunks because that's about all I could do before my attention span would end and I'd just conclude I didn't really care. I mean, Rani did a fine job, and I didn't hate her character. But I just didn't care, and I quit watching, and I tried again, and quit watching, and again, and again, but never far enough to actually get to the ending of the film.

And so the DVD still sits on my shelf, never watched all the way through, as I type this. And the weird thing? I can't pinpoint the problem. Somebody suggested it was Ajay's acting, that I just couldn't buy his side of the romantic pairing. I suppose .. but I'd hate to lay all the blame on him.

So anyway...

I never had any intention of watching the 50's version of Chori Chori, probably because I wasn't in general very driven to watch Raj Kapoor/Nargis films. I loved them in Shree 420, of course, but then I watched Andaz, with them and Dilip Kumar, which ended up being among the few movies I've quit watching and never gone back to.

But then one evening near Christmas they showed It Happened One Night (1934, starring Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert) on Finnish television and I loved the movie to pieces (easily one of my favourite romantic comedies of all time). Naturally I immediately went to Wikipedia and saw that it had in fact been remade in Bollywood, as the 1956 Chori Chori.

Now, it was always clear to me that ITHO was the original version and would always therefore be the best one, but I was still keen to see the Bollywood version. And this Chori Chori I definitely liked. The changes to the original story of a runaway heiress and a writer meeting on a bus journey to a big city were minimal, limited to dialogue and of course, the integration of songs and comedy characters that weren't in the original (obligatory Johnny Walker), but watching those changes was really fun for me, just having seen the original film.

While neither of the stars necessarily make my favourites category, I really enjoyed them in this film. There's a lightness to everything in the film, as there should be, but there are also a couple of very nice more emotional moments where you can tell that this a film made in Bombay, not in Los Angeles.

And what really won me over was the soundtrack. The integration of the songs can be a tad odd sometimes, relying on side characters to make sure there are enough songs, but I can be forgiving when the songs are this good.

I especially loved Jahan Main Jaati Hoon:



Fun song, and cute picturization, especially towards the end.

Anyway, I don't feel comfortable comparing the two movies with one another, because of their obvious vast differences, and the fact whoever the 2003 was made for, it wasn't for me. I know it has tons of fans and everything, and I wish I could say I enjoyed it as much as they did, but I just didn't. The older Chori Chori was my favourite purely for the fact it was easy to sit through, and an overall fun watch.

A reading break with Omkara.

Filmiholic made me aware of a little book called Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief by Stephen Alter, a fantastic little inside look at the Hindi film industry as well as a making of the Vishal Bharadwaj film Omkara. It's fun read all around, and more than anything else, I love getting a true behind-the-scenes look at how the film came into being.

Omkara is not a film I've rewatched countless times. I adore it to pieces and it is among my favourites, easily, but as far as rewatching goes, the film is a little difficult to approach. Whereas most Hindi films will provide some sort of an emotional rollercoaster for their viewers, this adaptation of the Shakespeare play Othello is a tragedy by nature. It overwhelms me every time I see it.


The emotional turmoil this movie puts me through almost makes me wish it wasn't so good. Because that's truly what Omkara is, an all-around well-crafted movie, whether it's direction, music, script or cinematography. Alter's book made me feel like I was on set, and I especially enjoyed reading about the work of the director of photography, Tassaduq Hussein. Every frame of the film seems so carefully and beautifully composed, I was amazed that anything on a crappy Eros DVD could look so good (and the DVD surely could be better). The look and costumes of the actors is toned down and naturalistic, and the setting is a plain Uttar Pradesh village, but regardless the movie looks beautiful.

I followed the news around the movie prior to its release, and reading the book I was once again reminded by the articles that floated around as they were filming. It is somewhat ironic that the reports circulated around hair length of the current hot star couple, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Saif had been hesitant to cut his hair for the role of the villain, Langda, whereas Kareena had incredibly long hair. The reason why it amuses me now is because while these superficial things were reported maniacally by the press - the only news items of any interest about the upcoming movie - the actors were working on some of their career's best work. Saif is unlikely to get as deeply involved with a role as he did with Langda (though we can hope), and I am sure I'm not the only one who Kareena won over with her perfectly innocent, naive Dolly, who loves selflessly until the end.

Of course Alter's book delves deeper, and it helps that Omkara truly has a world of its own, with its director's stamp all over it, from the setting to the language (not your standard Hindi/Urdu/English filmi lingo, but UP slang with crude expressions that these political mobsters surely would use). I like the notion that women get bigger roles than in the Shakespeare original, it seems very true. Perhaps the least grateful female part falls on Bipasha Basu's Billo, a dancer and girlfriend of Kesu (Vivek Oberoi), and even she has plenty of character. I would elaborate more, but there are simply too many things to cover; so many scenes I'd want to point out, so many details to mention.

So I guess if you have not seen it yet, do! It's a powerful adaptation that stands on its own, and a perfect mix of off-beat and masala; fantastic songs and popular actors in interesting roles. And if for nothing else, watch it for the following gorgeous pictures.





(I have way too many screencaps for this movie. I feel like I've screencapped every frame, nearly.)